Sunrise to Moonrise and Molivos inbetween!

Our last full day on Lesvos so we used every minute of it starting with a beautiful sunrise at Metouchi lake.

The Barn Swallows were still at their roosting place amongst the reeds. We had about an hour here looking at Herons and Crakes before getting back to the hotel for breakfast.
Today, we would be heading north but as usual we drove slowly along the East River just outside of Kalloni to look for birds. This Black-headed Bunting decided to stay nicely close by the roadside to sing.

The yellow flowers show off his yellow breast beautifully.

At the river ford we were rewarded with close views of this Little-ringed Plover. It's yellow eye ring showing up well.

Also at the river ford was a Wood Sandpiper that didn't mind our car being used as a hide!

We were going to the north of the island today towards the town of Molivos. On the way we went through the Napi Valley with the usual stops along the way.

The scenery along this valley was lovely and this shelter was a perfect place to spend some time enjoying the views.

There were also some lovely flowers here. I don't know the names of any of them I'm afraid!

There were some lovely old Olive groves along here.

With some very old and gnarled Olive trees.

Some of them must be hundreds of years old.

Some sort of Skipper. I guess I need to get a European Butterfly book sometime!

As usual, we find a nice spot to have our lunch. This old stream bed suited us fine.

With plenty of handy seats available.

Tucking in!

After lunch, we carried on along the coast road towards Molivos.

Approaching Molivos, one can't help but notice the castle which dominates the whole area.

We made a brief stop at the castle before heading down into the town. There was a Kestrel nesting in the castle wall.

There was also this tiny but striking jumping spider.

Small but quite ferocious looking!

It was fun to watch this lizard pair playing hide and seek with each other.

On down to the harbour where we were proper tourists for a change! (-:

At this time of year, the harbour was pretty quiet (I'm sure it's stuffed with people just a few weeks later). We stopped and had an ice cream and Jane decided to share hers with the local cat. Only trouble was, that all of a sudden there were about 9 local cats! (-:

We made a quick getaway and had a stroll round the harbour. The view of the town and castle from here was stunning.

As you can see from the fishing boats here, the fishing is really low scale.

Molivos is arguably one of the prettiest towns on the island. It has strict planning laws which bang building anything over two storeys high. This has preserved the place well. We had a pleasant wander through the streets.

This particular street had Wisteria growing along it's whole length which gave some welcome shade as well as being pretty.

I wonder if Geoff is thinking which setting to have his camera on? (-:

This was a typical roof tile feature all over the island.

I couldn't travel to Greece and not have a Greek urn photo! (-:

Having left the delights of Molivos and being a tourist behind. We made our way back south. David remembered a track through the hills that he'd enjoyed on his previous trip to Lesvos which had this old bridge along it.

I couldn't see why the bridge had been built in the first place, but it was a lovely old bridge to stand on and take photos of! (-:

Towards the end of the day, we inevitably found our way back to the Kalloni Salt Pans. The evening sun on the Glossy Ibis really showed up that deep rusty plumage and the irridescence in the wings.

This one was either choking or laughing at one of my jokes! (-: I suspect it was choking!

Back at the hotel and an evening shot of Nelly the Nightgale. This was when I shot that video of him singing.

And a shot of the moon rising from our hotel balcony to end our last full day here.

My final post from Lesvos will be our mornings birding before heading for the airport.